Friday, May 13, 2016

(Forgive me if you've already seen this post below - blogger is being super weird for me)

So, big news! We are moving! Right before we hit our 9 year houseiversary, we will be saying goodbye to our little ranch.

If you've been reading for a while, you'll remember we've been planning this move for basically five years. When we bought in peak-cost 2007, we originally thought we'd be in this house for five years max. Then the recession came crashing in shortly after. Plans were changed. We couldn't have left this house unless we mailed the keys into the bank and walked away. For an impatient planner like myself, this was unpleasant.But I'm so grateful we were forced to be patient.

I found myself changing, our collective perspective changing. I began to see this house less as a stepping stone and more so a place that deserved and insisted that we make it our home. This wasn't a transient stop onto something else. This is where we were to put down our roots. To grow our marriage and grow our family.

Despite my best worst intentions those first few years, this house became our home, that we have loved deeply and where we have lived well.

Those years that we first saw as "stuck" in our house due to forces we couldn't control were a refining period in our lives. We learned to live more simply, initially out of necessity and later out of choice. I have learned to be a wife here. And a mother. I have learned to be a grownup here. This home marked the start of our lives together, Tony and I. We looked at one house, this house, and decided it was ours. We drove a cargo van from our college homes an hour away, bringing our few pieces of hand-me-down furniture and a few suitcases worth of clothes. Tony bought a huge TV and I insisted on a real bed. If this house's walls could talk, they would reminisce about the mere babies we once were, eight years ago. About our naivete, our youth, our hope and our determination to make a life together. They would probably tsk at the memory of me yelling over and over that I hated this house, my anger misplaced, the house a scapegoat for my disillusionment over what it meant to be a grown up, chasing dreams you didn't care to chase anymore.This house would smile at the memories of us changing, of job changes and heart changes. I hope it would beam proudly at the changes we made to the house itself, fixing her up and pouring love into her. The shift was subtle, it would say, but somewhere along the years, this became our home, our center.We brought our babies home to this house. Over the past almost four years, this house has been my office, my daily life. We've fed and changed and rocked and played with two happy kids here. They race cars and baby doll strollers down the narrow hallway. The toys spill from the rooms into the living room. The whole house is their playroom.I love this house. We are making the choice to move - this is a positive turn, an exciting milestone. We are moving not out of necessity, but purely because we are ready to move on, and yet... And yet. My excitement and anticipation in the new is equally mingled with a nostalgic sense of loss, each sentiment equal and neither diminishing the truth of the other.Thank you, little house. For your shelter, for your warmth, for your quiet soil that allowed us to grow, to bloom. Thank you.

2007

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I'm planning a much less sappy post with before & after shots of all of the rooms, for my digital scrapbook. :)So we planned on listing our house this spring, and have been working over the past year on all of the little fix-ups we knew we needed to do - all things that kept me busy and had me kicking myself for not doing them sooner! I painted so much trim.Then we found a house we loved sooner than expected and put in an offer. In the meantime, we were able to sell our house without needing to list it (woo! huge blessing!). Then... we backed out of the other house due to some significant issues found during the inspection. So, our house is still being sold... and there is NO inventory out there really for the size/price we are looking for. I check Zillow roughly 1,000 times a day. Houses are being snapped up within days of listing, so we have to be on it. I am hoping so hard that a house shows up soon - or we are going to have to get creative. :)) It's all very first-world-problem-ish, and I am so grateful we have the liberty of making this transition at all. Let me know if you have any hot leads on a house in the small town of Peachtree City, GA ;)

Well, it's summer. (insert mixed emotions emoji here)I think it will be a good one. We have a lot going on, so I hope it won't seem too stagnant. Anyway, my kids grew (who knew!) between the first day and the last day of school. I love a good comparison, so here ya go:

Just like last year, it's Harper's legs that make her look so much older. She's in the goofy stage where she cannot muster a true smile for a photo - she's always trying way too hard, or moving. :)

And little Quinnie - she couldn't even walk on the first day! Now she won't stop :)I love these little sisters so so so so much!